Great Hall
by Nina-Satine
Summary: On Her way towards the Great Hall Sarah is greeted by a very unlikely friend.


Can be read alone, but will make more sense when read with Hogwarts. To read what I am calling the "Hogwarts Sage" in order, check out Sarah and the Wizarding World starting at Chapter 5 Hogwarts.

There may be mistakes in this chapter as there tends to be in all of them.

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Sarah was late, luckily it was only Study Hall. Unluckily the next few sessions were to be watched over by Professor Snape. Sarah had forgotten that the area for Study Hall had been moved to the Great Hall to accommodate the other schools that were visiting for the year. She had walked in expecting to be on time, only to see that the room was occupied by a majority of the Drumstrang students with Igor Karkaroff in front of the class. Sarah gave a shy smile and turned to head out only to be stopped by Karkaroff, and for the next 15 minutes she explained who she was, the school she went to, what her position was at Hogwarts and why she was working there as opposed to somewhere in America, and to her displeasure she answered a few of Karkaroff's questions about her family background. As quickly as she could she made her apology for interrupting their lesson, and left the room.

It had been a few weeks since the incident with Snape, and while Sarah was long over it, she couldn't speak for the Professor, and she knew that all the students still felt there was tension between the two. Sarah admitted that the next few class periods were the hardest, but she was certain that the two had moved on from the incident. Sarah was just not looking forward to hearing any of his comments about her tardiness, in fact she just wasn't looking forward to anything he had to say, as it was mostly always negative. As she walked up to the entrance of the Great Hall she was stopped by one of her favorite creatures.

"Hello gorgeous, were you waiting for me?" Sarah cooed.

"Mrow." Sarah's question was responded with a soft meow as she bent down to stroke the top of the cats head.

"You are so soft." Sarah said as the cat walked back and forth rubbing itself against the robes on Sarah's legs. "Would you care to join me?" Sarah asked.

"Meow." The cat responded.

"Come on then." Sarah said opening her arms and cradling the cat as she stood up and made her way down the center of the hall, talking to the cat as she walked, while simultaneously petting the cat on the head.

Sarah could hear the whisperings that followed her as she walked with the cat in her arms. "You're so soft, and so well mannered." Sarah spoke to the cat, ignoring the whispers from the students.

Sarah made her way to stand next to the stoic teacher who was looking through one of the notebooks that was handed to him.

"So glad you could join us." He said without looking at her.

"Doesn't seem like I missed much." Sarah replied quietly, as she continued to show affection to the cat in her hands. Snape moved the notebook away from his face only to see her holding the cat. He made no comment, instead he glared at the two of them as though he had just caught them conspiring to do some atrocious crime, before going back to the notebook. "You should probably get your eyes checked if you have to hold that book so close to your face." Sarah said as she looked at the cat in her arms.

"It is not my eyes that's the problem, it is the scribbles that are being passed off as handwriting." He said showing what was written down to Sarah. She looked at the writing and nodded her head to agree with him. "Is there a reason for your tardiness Miss Kingsley?" He asked as he looked along the tables to be sure everyone was doing work and not talking.

"I forgot that the session was being held here in the Great Hall today. I stumbled into the Drumstrang lesson. Igor kept me far longer than I would have liked." Sarah said trying, and failing to keep the disgust off her face.

"On first name basis?" He asked moving over towards a group of chatting students, and with the notebook smacked each one on the back of the head. Sarah wanted to comment on it, but didn't want to cause another argument, instead she gave him a look which he of course ignored.

"I have a hard time pronouncing his last name, I call him professor like anyone else, but if I told you that, you wouldn't have known who I was talking about. He wouldn't let me leave, he kept asking me questions, and having me answer them in front of his class." A paw suddenly patted the side of her face, Sarah was working herself up and all but forgot the cat she was holding.

"Not keen on Karkaroff I take it?"

"He gives off bad vibes." Sarah said adjusting the cat in her arms, and went about scratching the cat behind the ears. "You know when you just can't shake off that feeling a person give you, that's how it is with Karoffka, it's the same with Moody." Sarah said with a shiver.

"Karkaroff." Severus corrected.

"Yeah, I don't care." Sarah said lightly, their conversation in hushed tones seemed finished, and Sarah moved over to assist one of the students, she stopped when she heard the sound of running footstep. Sarah turned to see Filch, who had a panicked look in his eyes, out of breath as he looked around the Great Hall. When his eyes landed on Sarah he looked terrified, and worried, it made Sarah want to go over to him and ask if he needed help. Just as quickly however his eyes traveled down to the cat that she was holding the look on his face changed to that of relief, and then they changed to enraged, and accusing. Sarah continued to hold the cat in her arms and looked at Filch with no worry what so ever. He stomped his way over to her, stopping a few feet away from her before pointing at her.

"You took her." He accused.

"Oh hush." Sarah responded.

"You kidnaped her. You catnapper!" He accused again.

"I did no such thing." Sarah responded looking down at the cat in her arms. "Mrs. Norris just came to greet me, isn't that right Mrs. Norris?" Sarah finished, looking at the cat. Mrs. Norris purred loudly in her arms as she look up towards Sarah before letting out another soft meow as though she was agreeing with Sarah.

"Mrs. Norris?" Filch said in a tone that sounded as though he had just been heartbrokenly betrayed.

"Honestly Argus, Mrs. Norris is a very beautiful cat, and she is very lucky to have someone that appreciates her as much as you do. Isn't that right Mrs. Norris." Mrs. Norris licked her lips, meowed, and then turned her attention to Filch. "Now then," Sarah continued, "this is where we part for the time being Mrs. Norris, we both have responsibilities to attend to, I need to assist the students, and you need to help Argus, with the duties that you do. Whatever they are." Sarah finished under her breath. "I am always happy to have your company, but you really mustn't worry Filch like that again." Sarah reprimanded. Mrs. Norris meowed at her and Sarah transferred the cat from her arms to Filch's before once again making her way over to help the student.

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A/N: I had originally written this as being a much shorter piece, that had little connection with the other chapters. I ended up extending it and making mentions of other characters because they will have a bit of a bigger part in the next installment.


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